How would you manage rheumatoid arthritis patients with melanoma in situ, or high liver enzymes or interstitial lung disease? Curbside consults takes on these challenging therapeutic or safety issues with answers are based on experience, literature and guidelines.

Watch Dr. Cush discuss the highlights from this week on RheumNow.com.

An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration met May 3rd and 4th to review whether the long-acting or extended release (ER/LA) opioid REMS programs approved in 2012 have had a meaningful effect on the opioid abuse problems noted nationwide. The FDA panel voted overwhelming

Highlights from this week at RheumNow.com:

I was truly stunned Monday when it was announced that Glenn Frey, from the Eagles, had died as a result of complications from his rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.

Previously, granulomatous polyangitis (GPA or Wegener's) was known to have an increase risk of cancer, especially bladder cancer, presumeably due to cyclophosphamide (CTX) exposure.

The following is a compilation of abstracts presented at the 2015 Annual ACR meeting in San Francisco. These were chosen on the basis of impact, quality and safety message.

Using death certificate data from US National Vital Statistics System of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, JAMA reports a downward trend in death rates in the USA from 1969 - 2013).

From 2003 to 2013, the percentage of nonmedical use of prescription opioids decreased among adults in the U.S., while the prevalence of prescription opioid use disorders, frequency of use, and related deaths increased, according to a study in the October 13 issue of JAMA.

A population-based study from Northern Denmark studied the effects of aspirin and NSAIDs on colorectal cancer rates (Citation source http://buff.ly/1KJQ6H3).

Rheumatoid arthritis patients are often said to have no or a low risk of cancer.